What Is Personnel Management? (With Objective And Types)

Updated 20 February 2023

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Personnel management can help organisations manage their workforce effectively, improve employee productivity, reduce hiring expenses and increase employee job satisfaction. In some organisations, there may be a separate personnel management team, while in others, it may be a part of the human resources (HR) department. If you are interested in becoming an HR professional, understanding the concept of personnel management can help you implement it at your workplace. In this article, we answer 'What is personnel management?', share its different types, explain how it works and discuss its objectives.

What Is Personnel Management?

By learning the answer to 'What is personnel management?' you can understand the importance of this function for an organisation. Personnel management refers to all business functions involving the management of employees. These functions usually include training, hiring, compensating and engaging with employees. While people may sometimes use the terms personnel management and HR management interchangeably, personnel management involves relatively more administrative work.

In some organisations, it may be a branch of human resource management and include recruiting personnel for open positions. Through personnel management, employers can ensure they hire an appropriate number of employees, recruit and develop top talent and allocate suitable duties as per employee expertise. It also helps create a healthy and supportive work environment by providing employees with appropriate resources and tools. In some organisations, personnel management teams may be responsible for appraising, training and educating employees to ensure they have all the skills required for a job.

Types Of Personnel Management

The three primary types of personnel management functions are as follows:

Strategic personnel management

This involves planning and recruiting employees strategically by studying the current recruitment policies, staff turnover and employee satisfaction levels. It helps managers identify sections of the current policies that they can improve to reduce attrition and improve employee productivity. Based on this, they can determine their existing hiring needs and long-term staffing requirements. Sometimes, strategic personal management also includes training employees to improve a sense of belonging in the organisation and retain employees for longer.

Tactical personnel management

The focus of tactical management is to identify the best available candidate for a job, train them and maintain their employment in the organisation. It generally involves managing employee schedules, allocating resources, creating workflows and conducting job assessments. In this type of management, personnel managers study the performance of employees, identify relevant development opportunities and facilitate skill enhancement training. This helps organisations create and implement long-term recruitment plans and maintain the required staffing levels at all times.

Operational personnel management

Operational personnel management involves supporting the HR department with administrative and operational functions. While the HR team focuses on strategy, the personnel management team helps implement the strategies effectively and measure their impact. When the HR team onboards a new employee or pays the salaries and wages, the personnel management team may help with the administrative tasks to complete them.

How Does Personnel Management Work?

HR leaders and professionals can ensure effective personnel management by implementing the following functions and tasks:

Hiring

Based on the input received from department leaders and the HR team, personnel managers undertake the selection and recruitment of employees. They are responsible for matching the right candidates to open positions. This includes setting up selection and recruitment processes, interviewing candidates and communicating with all candidates. Sometimes personnel managers may be responsible for recruitment and hiring, while other times they may assist the human resources team with the execution of the interview process and other related paperwork.

Determining wages and salary

This includes determining adequate compensation for different roles in the company. Personnel managers are typically responsible for evaluating a candidate's experience, skills and qualifications and allocating salaries that match the profile. This can play a significant role in improving employee job satisfaction and turnover. In the case of freelance professionals or contractors, personnel managers process contracts and ensure that employees receive their wages as per their contract. They also help track employee attendance, leaves and overtime and process payments.

Administering benefits

Another essential function of personnel managers is administering benefits and incentives to employees. This includes bonuses, allowances, fund contributions and insurance. It is usually the responsibility of the personnel management team to ensure that every employee receives the promised benefits, along with their salary, as stipulated in their employee agreement. Personnel managers may also be responsible for customising the benefits and incentives as per employee expectations.

Onboarding and training

After recruiting a new employee, onboarding and preparing them for the job can be vital. This includes ensuring that they complete all the administrative paperwork accurately, explaining the code of ethics to the employee and making sure they have all the important information related to work. Personnel managers may work with the human resources team to facilitate the training of new employees and handle the training and development of existing individuals. Personnel managers often introduce new employees to the rest of the team through meet and greet activities.

Conducting performance appraisals

In several companies, the personnel management team may be responsible for employee performance management appraisals. They usually coordinate with department leaders to implement the evaluation exercise. This helps them assess an employee's current performance and identify areas of improvement. This step can also help personnel managers create employee training and development programmes accordingly.

Objectives Of Personnel Management

The objectives of personnel management are as follows:

Achieve organisational goals

The primary aim of personnel management is to help organisations achieve their goals by leveraging the skills of their employees. Besides matching the candidates with the right positions based on their skills and expertise, personnel management teams ensure they allocate the right resources to the right jobs. They play an important role in ensuring that employees align with the organisation's larger objectives.

Enable employee development

Personnel management teams monitor employee performance across departments and identify areas of development. This can help improve employee productivity and enhance the organisation's output. Effective personnel management can encourage employees to learn new skills, take responsibility for new tasks and create opportunities for improvement for their entire team. It can help create an environment focused on teamwork, collaboration and growth.

Improve internal communication

Personnel management can help improve internal communication within teams by facilitating workflows and activities for team building. They can also improve transparency between employees and managers by scheduling meetings and feedback sessions. By encouraging employees to communicate freely with their colleagues and managers, personnel managers can help create a healthy work environment. By facilitating clear communication, personnel managers can make employees feel heard and valued.

Increase employee job satisfaction

Another aim of personnel managers is to improve employee satisfaction and reduce employee turnover. Personnel management teams can improve employee productivity and performance by offering them the tools and resources to do their work well. By facilitating open communication with the senior management, organising team-building activities and helping employees develop their skills, personnel managers can create a work environment suitable for professional growth. This can help build employee morale and develop a sense of belonging in the organisation, resulting in higher satisfaction and results.

Strengthen internal processes

One major objective of personnel management teams is to improve workflows and internal processes. This helps ensure that employees follow a structure and there is clarity regarding ownership of tasks. By developing internal processes, organisations can improve the efficiency of their employees. It can help them manage the company's human resources effectively and ensure consistency in productivity or output. Developing and strengthening internal processes also helps create a standard operating procedure and protocol for unforeseen challenges.